+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 12, Issue 25, December 12, 2013. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 25 CONTENTS. SECTION ONE: New references. What's new at the Web Design Reference site? http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/ New links in these categories: 01: ACCESSIBILITY. 02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. 03: EVALUATION & TESTING. 04: EVENTS. 05: HTML5. 06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 07: JAVASCRIPT. 08: MISCELLANEOUS. 09: NAVIGATION. 10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 11: TYPOGRAPHY. 12: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 13: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Web Accessibility and Accreditation - A Blueprint for Regional Agencies By Belle Wheelan. "Project GOALS, a FIPSE funded grant program, has developed guidelines and templates for accreditors and institutions to use to ensure that all documents, especially those in electronic format, are available to individuals with visual and auditory disabilities. Having the responsibility to comply with federal laws in these matters is one thing, but knowing how to respond adequately to these requirements is another. The materials from Project GOALS have gone a long way in taking the guess work out of how to comply. The materials are easy to understand and implement and I highly recommend that you consider their use within your own organization..." http://ncdae.org/goals/accreditation/accreditation_blueprint.php Why Bother with Accessibility? By Laura Kalbag. "Web accessibility (known in other fields as inclusive design or universal design) is the degree to which a website is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility is most often used to describe how people with disabilities can access the web..." http://24ways.org/2013/why-bother-with-accessibility/ Aria-required=true: WCAG 2 Compliance versus Best Practice By Sailesh Panchang. "Because the attribute 'aria-required' is supported by commonly used browser-assistive technology combinations, many consider its use as the easiest and most optimal method for indicating that input is required for a field. Yet, recommending its use may not be so straightforward from a strict WCAG 2 compliance viewpoint..." http://www.deque.com/aria-requiredtrue-wcag-2-compliance-practice Content Accessibility By TV Raman and Charles McCathieNevile. "It has long been important to help users find the 'right content'. With the incredible diversity of the people who use the Web, and the devices they are using it from, it is more important than ever to find the content that works best for a given user's current situation..." http://blog.schema.org/2013/12/content-accessibility.html Using the Cloud to Improve Access for the Disabled By Mary Axelson. "A new initiative aims to give students with disabilities unfettered access to the internet by using the cloud to automatically customize any device for their needs." http://campustechnology.com/articles/2013/12/05/using-the-cloud-to-improve-access-for-the-disabled.aspx Use Case for High-DPI Zoom By Alastair Campbell. "In PPK's much needed research into how browsers handle media queries, he suggests that there isn't a use case for increasing the DPI when zooming in. I think I have one..." http://alastairc.ac/2013/12/use-case-for-high-dpi-zoom/ Five Fundamentals of Accessible Responsive Web Design By Anna Belle. "What are the key techniques for building a responsive website that's also accessible? I've been scouting the Web the last few days hoping to find clear answers to this question, but there's precious little out there. You can find scads of great information about both accessible and responsive web design, but what about the intersection of the two?..." http://www.happywebdiva.com/2013/12/03/accessible-responsive-web-design/ Good Accessibility is Good Web Page Design By Chris Duckett. "Accessibility isn't something that should be added onto a web page, it should be baked in..." http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/australian-technology/good-accessibility-is-good-web-page-design/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Moonlighting with CSS Text-Shadow By Chris Mills. "...In this article I'll cover the venerable text-shadow property, taking you from basics, through interesting applications, and up to advanced considerations..." http://www.sitepoint.com/moonlighting-css-text-shadow/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. How to Run a Usability Test with Users Who Are on Your Site Now By Marieke McCloskey. "Learn how to use tools like ethnio and GoToMeeting to recruit participants while they're on your site and immediately run moderated usability studies..." http://www.nngroup.com/articles/live-intercept-remote-test/ +04: EVENTS. Webstock 2014 Starting Feburary 10, 2014. Wellington, New Zealand http://www.webstock.org.nz/14/ In Control February 17-19, 2014. Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. http://2014.incontrolconference.com/ Fluent March 11-13, 2014. San Francisco California, U.S.A. http://fluentconf.com/fluent2014/ Breaking Development - Texas March 31-April 2, 2014. Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. http://bdconf.com/2014/dallas MinneWebCon April 14-15, 2014. Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. http://www.minnewebcon.umn.edu/ +05: HTML5. Why Does HTML Footer Take role="contentinfo"? By Bruce Lawson. "...role attributes are from the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) spec, and not part of HTML(5), although they're allowed in pages. They're developed by different groups, and for different reasons. ARIA is a bridging technlogy for any markup language - HTML4, SVG or HTML5 to 'plugin' accessibility information that isn't part of the host language..." http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2013/why-does-html-take-rolecontentinfo/ +06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. The Lazy Information Architect's Guide to Organising Content By David Travis. "Here's the scenario. It is coming up to Christmas and you're in a design meeting. The topic for discussion is redesigning the navigation structure of Santa's intranet..." http://uxmas.com/2013/the-lazy-information-architects-guide-to-organising-content +07: JAVASCRIPT. Overview of ARIA, JavaScript, and Interactive Web Accessibility [VIDEO] By Joseph Scheuhammer via Deque. "In October, Deque and jQuery presented the two-day JavaScript Accessibility Summit. Joseph Scheuhammer's presentation on ARIA, JavaScript, and Interactive Web Accessibility is presented below. Joseph Scheuhammer, PhD., is the Senior Developer at the Inclusive Design Research Centre (OCAD University). " http://www.deque.com/overview-aria-javascript-interactive-web-accessibility-video JavaScript - Taking Off the Training Wheels By Tom Ashworth. "JavaScript is the third pillar of front-end web development. Of those pillars, it is both the most powerful and the most complex, so it's understandable that when 24 ways asked, 'What one thing do you wish you had more time to learn about?', a number of you answered 'JavaScript!'..." http://24ways.org/2013/javascript-taking-off-the-training-wheels/ Why I'm Turning JavaScript off by Default By Tom Morris. "..JavaScript is becoming the new conduit for awfulness. I like the web too much to have to endure any more of it when not strictly necessary." http://tommorris.org/posts/8677 Happy 18th Birthday JavaScript By resin. "It was 18 years ago today that JavaScript was announced in a joint press release by Netscape and Sun. That week, Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" was in the charts, and in 17 days Ruby would launch its first version too..." http://resin.io/blog/happy-18th-birthday-javascript/ +08: MISCELLANEOUS. This is a Website By Jeffery Zeldman. "...Yes, recycling other people's recycling of other people's recycling of cat gifs is fun and easy on Tumblr. Yes, rubbing out a good bon mot on Twitter can satisfy one's ego and rekindle a wistful remembrance of meaning. Yes, these things are still fine to do. But they are not all we can do on this web. This is our web. Let us not surrender it so easily to new corporate masters. Keep blogging in the free world." http://www.zeldman.com/2013/12/11/this-is-a-website/ Modern Web Standards in Browsers - Bruce Lawson Interview [Video] By Charles Nevile. "Modern Web Standards in Browsers: an interview conducted by Charles Nevile from Yandex, during YaC 2013's special project, inFront, the Future of the Web..." http://video.yandex.ru/users/ya-events/view/2131/?cauthor=ya-events&cid=128# +09: NAVIGATION. Links - Don't 'Click Here' By Dennis Lembree. "So it's the end of 2013, and sadly, the phrase 'click here' continues to be used in text links all around the web. This is poor usability, accessibility, and sure makes the author look silly!" http://www.webaxe.org/links-dont-click-here/ How Important Is To Have Always Visible Navigation? By Steven Bradley. "Site navigation is typically among the first things you think about when designing a website. Once you know what content the site will contain you start thinking how to organize that content and you also think how to provide access to it through the site's navigation..." http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/always-visible-navigation/ +10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. CSS, HTML, and the Problem of Spec Fragmentation By Jens Meiert. "We have not one but two fundamental problems with CSS. One is unrestricted growth and complexity leading to poor understanding and poor code. Another one is spec fragmentation, also an issue with HTML, which results in inefficiencies. We should look for a better balance..." http://meiert.com/en/blog/20131205/spec-fragmentation/ +11: TYPOGRAPHY. How to Use Cross Browser Web Fonts, Part 1 By Chris Mills. "...This week I'm exploring web fonts, looking at the best way to use custom fonts on your site across browsers. I'm going to start with some basic explanations so we all know what we're talking about, then I'll move on to some more advanced aspects in the following article..." http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-cross-browser-web-fonts-part-1/ +12: USABILITY. On the Web, Context Kills, Speed Saves By Gerry McGovern. "A key difference between web writing and writing for print is that on the Web you need to avoid context and instead focus on instructional, how-to, task-based content..." http://gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/web-context-kills-speed-saves A History of Usability By Jeff Sauro. "Jeff's infographic is a beautifully designed snapshot of the last 100 years of usability. A poster-sized print is available for purchase..." http://uxmas.com/2013/history-of-usability [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +13: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? Accessibility Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html Association Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html Book Listings. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html Cascading Style Sheets Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html Color Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html Dreamweaver Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/dreamweaver.html Evaluation & Testing Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html Event Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html Flash Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/flash.html Information Architecture Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html JavaScript Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html Miscellaneous Web Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html Navigation Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html PHP Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html Sites & Blogs Listing. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html Tool Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html Typography Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html Usability Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html XML Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/xml.html [Section two ends.] ++END NOTES. + SUBSCRIPTION INFO. WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit: http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html The Web Design Reference Site also has a RSS 2.0 feed for site updates. + TEXT EMAIL NEWSLETTER (TEN). As a navigation aid for screen readers we do our best to conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) guidelines. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to make navigation easier. For TEN guideline information please visit: http://www.headstar.com/ten + SIGN OFF. Until next time, Laura L. Carlson Information Technology Systems and Services University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009 mailto:lcarlson@d.umn.edu [Issue ends.]